By Maxine Williams, Global Chief Diversity Officer
March 8 is International Women’s Day, a day that celebrates the many contributions that women around the world make to their communities every day.
In 2017, International Women’s Day was the #1 most talked-about moment of the year*. It was a moment that rallied the world around empowering women, and that was just the beginning of mounting energy for women’s movements that shows no signs of slowing down in 2018.
Every day we see women using Facebook Groups, Pages and Fundraisers to truly make a positive impact in their communities:
- Maria, leads Supergirls, a group of nearly 90,000 women in Israel who share the same challenges in life: career, family and identity. Supergirls is a home for sharing deep secrets, asking personal questions or having a shoulder to cry on, and has held more than 100 community meetings to have social impact not only online, but in person.
- Angel works for the Alameda County Fair, a 20-day, 150-year-old fair that began in 1859 in downtown Oakland as a floral event. With no previous marketing experience but a passion for the fair, Angel took a job in the marketing department. She started a Facebook Page, and from there Angel has grown their following to 100,000, increased ticket sales, and helped to hire 25 additional employees.
- For her birthday last November, Natalie asked her friends and family to help support Women and Children First: The Center Against Family Violence, Central Arkansas’s largest Domestic Violence Shelter offering emergency shelter, support services and advocacy. She saw such great momentum, that she surpassed her fundraising goal and raised enough to help two women leave abusive relationships and be safe.
On March 8, we are helping celebrate women like these who are leading the way in their communities:
- First, the Credit Her campaign will spotlight women from the past and present — such as Billie Jean King and Big Mama Thornton — to whom we want to help give credit for their incredible contributions. This will be available on facebook.com/facebook on March 8.
- Second, on mobile devices, people will have the opportunity to show their support through cards, photo frames or themed backgrounds for text posts, all designed to inspire people to express themselves on this day. Look for a message in News Feed on March 8, or visit facebook.com/iwd.
- Finally, #SheMeansBusiness, a program established by Facebook in 2016 to support women-owned businesses, is launching Community Finder. This tool will give female entrepreneurs the power to connect with each other and share questions, advice, resources and support to help them grow their businesses. We’re also hosting Open Door events at Facebook offices around the world where women can participate in workshops, discussions and networking opportunities. Visit shemeansbusiness.fb.com for more information.
We hope everyone will join in on the moment and celebrate the women in their lives — whether they contributed to your success, lifted you up, or inspired you and others in your community.
*Based on year in review methodology, measuring growth in Facebook conversation